Lightening EVERY NIGHT!!! - 19 August 2013

Howdy Awesome Family and Friends!

I don't quite remember if I've mentioned this before, but since we live in an AWESOMELY flat area and can see for miles, something I wish I could share with all ya'all after the prettiest sunsets of your life, would be the SWEETEST lightening storms of your life!! Just about every night we see clouds rollin' in the distance and electricity meeting the dusty earth. It's pretty, and amazing! 

This week has been super spectacular! We're seeing so many miracles out here in the strange land of New Mexico! 

First, yesterday in Church we had a meeting with the stake presidency (the men in charge of church business through basically this whole Eastern part of NM). It was amazing to me to realize once again, how important it is for us to follow God's commandments. After Loving God, the greatest of all the commandments is loving one another, and it really just amazed me how much love the leaders of our church have for the members as they all serve in their positions unpaid. It's great being a missionary and serving full time, no work, or school, or distractions, but as we talked about missionary work (efforts of finding people who want to hear about the gospel, and helping to grow the testimonies of those who are already members of the church, and to help bring back those who are less-active members of the church), it was beautiful to feel the Spirit fill the room and testify to me again that our work is truly centered on Jesus Christ. He is the perfect example of love, and if this gospel wasn't true, and we were not motivated by love, there is no way that the work, God's work, could move forward.

And the work out here is, even if it's slow, moving forward!

Last Monday night we met with a man named Alonso, He is really awesome, and asked amazing questions while we were teaching him. We even had a lesson on his front porch during and EPICALLY crazy dust-turned-rain storm, and he was the only one who stayed dry! He's also planning to come to church on Sunday!

Also, this awesome guy, Joe, that we've been meeting with at least once a week for the past little bit, is just continuing to fill each of our days with sunshine! Everyone knows everyone else in this little town, and usually people don't really like to sit down and talk with us, but Joe's told us "I don't know why, but for some reason, you girls... just have something about you. I'll never run you off." We were able to bring members with us to two of our lessons with him this week, and he wants to come to church this Sunday! After we said that we were excited about him coming to church he was like "Yep I'll be there! ..... unless I'm dead, then I won't be there." He think's he's really old, but he isn't :P 

One more miracle we saw this week, was that I met a Filipino!! It was so great knocking on Arlene's door, and going into her home. She is less-active now, but as we got to know her a little bit more, we found out that she served a mission in the Philippines! It reminded me of Jacy, and her service over there right now, and I couldn't help but smile! While we were in her home all of the Filipino inside of me was just extra-filled with joy, and it was so exciting to talk with her about the scriptures, and the joy she has felt as she's read them! As she prayed the Spirit came so quickly into the room that none of us could deny now great Heavenly Father's joy was that she was offering her voice up to Him.

Something amazing that has sunk deep into my heart this week as we've been teaching and been pondering about being a missionary and the message we have to share with everyone, is that this message is truly a message of hope and of love! There are a lot of people who don't think they can truly know God, and while it's true to an extent (because he is perfect, and we aren't so we can't truly understand perfection in our earthly state right now), What is truly important, that He wants us to know is that He is our loving, our PERFECTLY loving Heavenly Father.l He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to the Earth, because He loves us SO much! and just as prophets of old were called to prepare the world for His first coming, prophets have again been called to the earth to prepare the world for Christ's Second Coming. We have no reason to fear God in the afraid sense, but to fear Him in a way of respect. To look to Him as our Father, and to follow the example of our older Brother, Jesus Christ, as we tread our to our Father in Heaven.

Isn't it amazing that He has given us everything? We have a way back Home to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, and have His Holy Spirit to testify of ALL truth to us, as we act on our faith, and ask Him if the path we are on is correct. I know that He always listens to us, and as we humble ourselves before Him, He truly will make more of us than we could ever make of ourselves. 

Love Always,

 Sister Lagrosa <3

Pictures:

#1 Me and Joe!

#2 Me and a cute little kitten! (I'm so glad I'm not allergic to them anymore! And glad that we can't have pets, otherwise we'd have like a MILLION of these guys because they are EVERYWHERE!)

#3 Me and Sister Johnson awkward smiling while we were parked in the car. :P

P.S. Pictures - August 12, 2013

Pictures and Fun Facts:

1- The DUST STORM we blew in during Friday night

2- Everyone completely SOAKING WET! (after playing in the puddles)

3- A piece of the NM sky I wish I could box up and carry around with me :D

 

 

 

"We do alotta cussin' here...." - August 12, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Sooo, this was most definitely an exciting week! 

 

As you know we've been doing a LOT of knocking the past couple of months, and while that totally HAS been awesome, and we've been able to talk to quite a few people, and we've had some interesting people tell us to go away, this week we had two of the FUNNIEST experiences from knocking.

 

#1 We knocked and a man answered and asked who we were:

"Well, we're missionaries from the Church of ..."

"Not, interested, we do alotta cussin here."
And closed the door.

 

#2 We were talking to a nice woman on her porch and she went inside after saying "Just a second..."

and then her brother comes out, followed by different girl with a guitar.

She's playing something, and says "Hey! ... I'm a Mormon."

... maybe you had to be there for it to be funny, but it was. I promise lol.

But yeah, anyway, more awesomeness from this past week! Our trio traveled to Lubbock because Sister Johnson is a Sister Training Leader (over all the Sister's in the NM part of the mission) and she had a meeting to attend, so Sister Hoover and I were able to work with some of the Sister's in Lubbock while the meeting was going! It was really amazing, and I know that it reignited that excitement we need out here in Dexter! We had some awesome memories of our first night here because we came in with another dust storm... but instead of cleaning our dust-filled house (because it wasn't filled with dust) we were able to talk with some of our Methodist friends about the Family Proclamation !! :)

 

(Also, going to Lubbock meant I FINALLY GOT MY BIKE!!! It's been ALL over the STATE OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO, but It's here! :D)

 

Also, this week what has stood out to me so much is just the simplicity of our message. How literally EVERYTHING we teach is centered on Jesus Christ. From personal study this week, to the few lessons we were privileged to teach, to the talks about family on Sunday during sacrament meeting, and our conversation with some of our Methodist friends (during the dust storm we came back in), everything testifies of Jesus Christ, and He is the answer to all of our problems. There truly is SO much joy to be found in the gospel!

 

There was a lot of talk about family this week, and when we were chatting with our Methodist friends about the family proclamation, naturally the subject of how often we get to talk with our families came up. I felt so much love and appreciation for my family, because it really is hard to not talk with them like we used to (and I mean, let's be honest I'm pretty great to talk to right? :D jk). But, I know with all of my heart that Heavenly Father loves us so much, and He gives us comfort most especially in the times we need it most. And I know I'm blessed with this love I get to remember and feel every day when I think about the ones I've left for this short time while I"m out here serving Him.

I love you!

~Sister Lagrosa

Pictures and fun facts!:

1- There is SO MUCH CORN here! And we learned this week that it is almost ALL exclusively used to feed the cows at the dairies!

2- BEAUTIFUL NEW MEXICO! (the not flat part of it :P)

3- MY PURPLE BIKE!

 

 

 

 

 

Bike Daze and Rain - August 5, 2013

Hello Family and Friends!

So we don't have much time today, becasue this computer is SUPeR slow, and the library is closing really soon! (sorry in advance for typos! and hopefully I'll get extra pictures to you next week) 

But first of all CONGRATS to William (my favorite brother) for graduating!  We'll be twins with college degrees now bro!! :D

And also to answer a few questions sent to me:

1) I've not yet gotten my bike back! But, I'm still using the one from Walmart an elder left and I've made it my own by putting a little water bottel holder on there made of duct tape! :P

2) We love our new home we're in! It's been about a month now, and we all have at least another month to live there! It's funny because it's the Methodist Parsonage, and we are certified ministers right now, but we don't go to the church we're attached to lol (but they are some of the NICEST people we've met in town. :D It's great to be their neighbors)

3) And yep, my companions and I usually do go out alone, but sometimes we get to go out with other church members too so we can cover more ground and visit some more people. We have our little area that is assigned to us, and the Elders in our branch are assigned to be in town (Artesia) so we don't overlap much... But transfers happened last week and we now have only Spanish missionaries in Artesia, so we have missionaries that can speak the language of most of the people that live out by us lol.

So yeah! It's awesome, this past week has been amazing (as usual), and as you can tell by the title of this letter, it RAINED this week!

To preface this story you have to know a couple things:
1- we are so far away from EVERYTHING out here that we drive a lot, and we try our best to get out on bikes as much as we can

2- it has rained before, but never with the EPIC timing it had this past Wednesday.

We usually have bike day on Thursday, but we tried to have extra bike time on Wednesday to cut down on the amount of miles we have been using, and we got caught in a little downpour on our way home for dinner. It's sooooooo dry here normally, so we felt the humidity and then a few sprinkles, and then boom, the sky just opened up! Since there aren't even stoplights in our entire area (Dexter/Hagerman/Lake Arthur) there definitely aren't any storm drains, and there are ALWAYS some awesome puddles that form (and quickly leave when the sun comes out) on the roads. So since we were taking our break for dinner and we were already soaked from biking we splashed in the puddles for a good 15 minutes and Sister Johnson got pictures with her waterproof-lifeproof camera.

So yeah, whoever says missionaries don't have any fun... don't believe them, it's always fun! :D

The BEST part of the week though was (well teaching of course, it's our calling as missionaries!) but it was #1 recognizing Heavenly Father's hand in our planning and #2 AMAZING Scripture study time.

 

I've always loved my time with reading scriptures, but this week I just felt so lucky that we get an hour EVERY DAY to study the scriptures ourselves, and it still doesn't feel like enough time! Also, it is SO great that I can learn from TWO companions as we share what we learned during personal study with each other. I try to read one chapter from Proverbs each day during breakfast (because there are 31 chapters, one for each day of the month!), and then I read a little from Christ's life in the New Testament (our Baptist Preacher neighbor told us to read the Gospel of John, and think about what we really believe... it was one of the greatest studies of my life because it is SO amazing to me EVERY DAY just how much our Savior loves us, and how He did EVERYTHING in His life to glorify our Heavenly Father. I thought about the message that we are sharing with people and the good news of having a prophet called of God, today on the earth to testify of Jesus Christ and that we (all) have the opportunity every day to live our lives and try our best to make good choices to glorify our Father in Heaven... it's really great!), (sorry that was a long aside) but yeah, I spend most of my study time in the Book of Mormon, or trying to study by topic from Preach My Gospel. There is so much to learn!

Right now I'm in Acts in the New Testament, and it's so cool to read about Christ's apostles spreading the word, and all of the missionary work they did after His crucifixion, the trails they faced, and the power and courage with which they were able to bear testimony of Jesus Christ. I think it's also so amazing to read about the missionary work and similar trials the great missionaries in the Book of Mormon faced as they tried to spread the word about Jesus Christ as well.

I'm humbled every day as I put on my black name tag, and think about how great this message is that I have the opportunity to share! Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer, and He is because Heavenly Father loves His children so much! And our Father loves us so much that He's called prophets in these days to help us come back to Him, that there is more scripture testifying of Christ's love and the mercy we are able to receive from Him.

I love you all, and I'm so happy that I get to share just a part of this experience I'm having in this strange land with you. 

Love always,

Sister Lagrosa

The Beginning of Chapter 2 - July 29, 2013

Howdy Family!

Even though I was totally stoked to write you after our Monday night Miracles, guess what!?!? We can e-mail again on Mondays! There is a small public library in the town just South of ours (on the way to Artesia) and we stopped in and they have computers! 

I forgot to talk about a couple things in the last e-mail, there was SO much that happened! But there is this little area of South Dexter called Greenfeild (it's about 3 streets long) and our awesome maps are kind of dated, so we were trying to update them, and we found out that most of it is truly a green field! lol And in our time there we were walking down a street, about to go knock on a trailer's door, and a GIANT St. Bernard busts out from under the trailer... promptly followed by a tiny little chihuahua! Then Sister Johnson was like "Even the dogs have pet dogs here!!" It was really funny... and seriously, there are so many dogs! Down here the "Beware of Dog" signs are noooo joke! But there are a lot of nice dogs too, and Sister Hoover is a good judge of their character haha.

Anyway, this week was pretty great... even though we were dropped by almost all of the amazing people we met last week. It has been a really amazing opportunity for us to keep working hard and focus on the amazing people who have that desire to learn more about the gospel, and work our way to the other little towns in our area (Hagerman and Lake Arthur).

We've been able to bike the few miles it is to Hagerman from our little home in Dexter, but still have not yet had the opportunity to ride back. The first time we got a ride home, and this past Thursday for bike day, Sister Hoover got 2 holes in her back tire, and we got stuck about half way home. Luckily though, a few weeks ago we met a super nice Presbyterian couple when we were lost trying to find another house (did I mention that 1/2 the houses out here have no address on them and the other 1/2 seem to be numbered wrong?), anyway, they were amazing, and we were only about 1/2 a mile away from their home so we were able to catch a ride back because everyone out here has a truck! :D

Since Sister Hoover's tire was flat, we carried her bike, and we kind of felt like Pioneers a little bit because we were just trekking along this country road. This was kind of perfect because Wednesday was pioneer day (the day we celebrate the saints crossing the plains!) and we were all assigned to talk about pioneers during sacrament meeting yesterday! It was really awesome to speak in church, and since we didn't really have too many resources to focus us on the saints who crossed the plains, so we all took our talks in different directions. :) As I was thinking about why the pioneers crossed the plains, or why they describe a lot of converts as modern-day pioneers, I tried to think about what they all have in common. It's pretty simple, it's how much Heavenly Father loves us! The saints crossed the plains because they were listening to a prophet who was called of God, they knew it would be hard, and many gave up everything they had, including their lives to get their families to the West. People all over the world who have learned of Heavenly Father's love, and prayed to know about the truthfulness of this church, have taken action on their faith, followed the example of Jesus Christ, and have been baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority from God. 

I loved having the opportunity to study more about Christ's life, because He pioneered our path back to Heavenly Father. He's given us THE way! I wish I could put my whole talk in here, but a lot of it came from the Gospel of John and 3 Nephi 27. It's amazing how Christ blazed that path for us, that He was the perfect example of having faith in His Heavenly Father's plan, making covenants with Him (even though Jesus was perfect), and enduring to the end, constantly bearing testimony of the His Father in Heaven, and striving hard to serve those around Him as He was called to do! It's kind of cool to think of Christ as our pioneer back to our Heavenly Home huh?

One last thing that really sunk into my heart this week is the power of prayer! President Hinckley said: "Call upon the Lord. He has extended an invitation and He will answer."

I am amazed at the peace and comfort, the blessings and gifts that Heavenly Father wants to give to us if we simply ask Him. I had an experience this past week when I was talking to my Heavenly Father, realizing how imperfect I am as a human, but more so in my calling as a missionary, I really desired to know if this was still what I need to be doing. I asked Him to reaffirm the answer I had received before, because I want to be out here, and I know, or at least at that point, knew that it was right at one point... and I waited... and waited. And then I told Him, that if it wasn't His will for me to continue, even though I want to, even though it's difficult, I trust that He will make me better than I could ever make myself. And I got that answer. It was quiet and peaceful, and I was able to feel again that I'm right where I need to be.

I know that Heavenly Father answers all of our prayers, and that as we take the time to ask Him if the path we are on is correct that He will answer us through the power of the Holy Spirit, which manifests the truth of ALL things. Our Father in Heaven wants us to have peace and joy in this life as we prepare to return to Him again, and there is so much joy to be found here!

The work is moving along here, and I'm so happy to be a missionary!

If you get a chance to, the talk "But if not" is so wonderful, and you should try and take a few minutes to read it.

Love always,

Sister Lagrosa

Picture #1 --> my planner covers!

#2 --> us pioneering!

#3 --> fun at the park during exercise time :D

Chapter 1, Week 6 - July 23, 2013

Hi Family and Friends!

 

So, since the library we e-mail at is now closed on Monday's we'll be e-mailing on Tuesdays after our district meetings we have in Artesia. (Sorry if anyone got worried!)

 

I'm kind of happy though, that we get to e-mail on Tuesdays, because it seems that there are always Monday-night miracles! ... well I mean there are miracles everyday, but especially on Monday nights! And last night was TOTALLY one of those nights! ... but I have to start with the week first, so you'll have to hang on for a second. :)

 

So in my last e-mail I talked a little bit about going on exchanges with the other sisters here in NM, and how it was awesome to see what it actually looked like to have investigators and people to teach! We were so excited to get it rolling in the Dexter area, and this past week we taught EVERY DAY! It was so amazing, because each night when we came home we were like "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" but with a little less excitement, becasue we were always pretty tired from working hard lol. But we had a lot of success in finding interested people in the few streets of Dexter we hadn't knocked at before, and we were just as busy it seems as the sisters we were on exchanges with just the week before.

 

When we sat down to plan out Saturday on Friday night, it was really amazing because we already had almost every hour of the day filled with appointments (seriously, the first time EVER in the last 5 weeks we've had more than like one or two appointments set)!! But shoot, dang, we had 7 appoinments fall through... and a couple of their backups, so it was really, discouraging for a little, but, like Sister Johnson says, "Exact obedience brings miracles!" And we TOTALLY had miracles happen. More than just the 3 I'm about to talk about!

1) We met with Joe and he prayed with us! I think I told you about Joe last week, but he's so stinkin' awesome, and we've been able to meet with and talk to him quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. I think a problem that a lot of us struggle with is faith, and recognizing that we do have it. Especially with the amounts of rejection we've expereinced, or just time spent knocking on doors that people don't open, Joe has been SUCH a giant ray of sunshine in our lives, and he always has family over who listen in and chat with us when we are talking with him. He, like I said is amazing, and we've been trying to help him with prayer, and an awesome way we've discovered that we can pray with people (and not just for them while we're there) is to go around the group and say soemthing we are thankful for. There was a lot of family over at his place, and Sister Johnson opened the prayer, and everyone in the circle said something they were grateful for, and right after Joe spoke, he said "Aw man! Look at what you made me do!" with the biggest smile on his face. And when we closed with "In the name of Jesus Christ,  Amen" the Spirit felt even stronger than past times

 

2) Meeting the L. Family! We went knocking on Thursday and met an amazing family, single dad and three kids, and we just spoke for about 45 minutes about Jesus Christ and the role He has had in this family's life. The dad said to us "I may not look like it, but I'm a Christian man!" And we could totally tell that by how he spoke of some of the experiences he's had in his life with his kids the past little bit. On Saturday, we brought a member with us to a lesson we had planned, which fell through, and then the back-up fell through, and our 3rd backup also fell through. But we saw his truck in the driveway and taught the restoration to him and his family. They were pretty excited to come to church on Sunday, so the kids came, even though he had to work.

 

3) Miriam! We also found Miriam on Thursday night, we met her oustide while she was with her kids, and we went back to her house to teach her on Friday. Earlier on Saturday though, when we went by to see her, she wasn't home, but then she was and we had an amazing lesson with her on her front lawn. It was amazing because she doesn't read english very well (even thoug hshe speaks it PERFECTLY!), but we were able to get some Spanish materials and, while we talked to her in English she was able to understand it better in the Spanish. I think it is amazing that the Spirit though is a language that doesn't take spoken word to understand, and that Heavenly Father understands ALL of His children no matter what language they are speaking. She prayed for us in Spanish too, and it was just so beautiful! :D

 

So yes, even though life is hard, and dang just some DAYS seem harder than others, there truly are miracles that happen!

 

I can't believe it is already the last week of this first transfer! Sister Johnson names each transfer a chapter number, and I thought it was a neat idea to organize the chronicles of my mission, so I adopted it (hence the title :P) The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days here!

 

I'm glad that we are (almost) gaurenteed to stay in our area for this upcoming chapter becasue we are in the 12-week training program, because the work is just starting to get going here! We are speaking in church on Sunday about Pioneers (which is funny because the mission office has been calling us the Dexter Pioneers lol) So I'm excited for that!

 

Anyway, that's all for this week!

 

Check the pics for our Monday Night Miracle!

 

Love always,
Sister Lagrosa

 

 

Pictures!

#1 --> We bought a huge white board last week to help organize our planning for investigators, and since we have a TINY car, Sister Hoover was a little jammed in the back seat lol.

#2 --> Monday Night miracle! We took our bikes out to visit a less-active member near lake Van, and we rode around it to talk with the people that were out because it was such a BEAUTIFUL evening!

#3 --> Since it's the last week of transfers we took some photos as a district! (just barely at district meeting!) So this is us, cute right?

Wanderer's in a Strange Land - July 15, 2013

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So, we had an exciting week, it went by REALLY fast, becasue we went on exchanges (swapped companions for a little bit) with the sister missionaries in Clovis and Portallis this week! It was really awesome to learn from other missionaries, and help them to meet more people in their areas! It was also really sweet to actually have investigators to teach lol. I had the opportunity to teach the Plan of Salvation lesson with one of the sisters in Clovis, and it was so awesome, becasue we didn't really have too much time to prepare together, and we really had to RELY on the Spirit so much! After the lesson we kind of just floated back to the car, and I laughed a little and told her that was the first time I'd taught that lesson... ever. And, oh man, it was just so great. I was able to have a few opportunities to teach the restoration on a few doorsteps, so that was also way awesome! My favoirte part of our time though, was the last day when we were in Clovis. We were trying to just talk to some people on the street when we saw a man smoking on his front stoop in the apartments we were going to have a lesson in, and we walked up and introduced ourselves. He saw our name tags, and we talked about where he's come from, religiously, and he's been looking for a church to go to, becasue he knows that God has blessed his life so much. He told us that it was a miracle we ran into him becasue he actually lives in a different city, but he was so happy to talk with us. He said that he was trying to quit smoking, because it was just "not the way I want to deal with my stress", and I taked to him a little bit about the word of wisdom, and the 12-step program. While we talked about this, my companion and I were able to also talk with him about the restoration, and blessings that come from keeping the word of wisdom. I told him that addictions are hard to overcome, but that Heavenly Father WILL help us with our righteous desires, and that our weaknesses can be made strong, becasue I've seen it in my life, and in the lives of many around me. It was so cool, I felt impressed to give him my little 12-step wallet-card I've had for the past couple of years, and I wrote 2Nephi 4:15-35 and Ether 12:27 on the back so he could remember to read them. I was actually kind of sad to lose the card, but at the same time, SO happy that there is even the slightest chance that those steps will help him stop smoking.

 

Monday night we had two fantastic lessons with some people we knocked into the other day when we were on splits with the awesome future missionary Mikayla. We had a great lesson and read in the Book of Mormon with Joe, who is just so full of life and honesty. Afterwards, we walked down to a house where we'd left a copy of the Book of Mormon and Ralph answered, and his brother Israel, who lives with him was there too, and we kind of had a split lesson on their door step. It was so cool, and we invited both of them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to know if it was true. We were sooooo tired when we finally came home from exchanges on Thursday night, but we went right back out to work for the last couple of hours we had, and it was soooo amazing! (Can I just say it was really awesome to be having such a great time in Clovis and Portallis, but still miss Dexter, and not be grossed out by the slufer-y smell?)

Heavenly Father truly blesses us when we are doing His work. There is a little windmill in town where you can get non-sulfer smelling drinking water. We ran into the mother of a girl (about my age) we taught yesterday. It was a miracle that we were able to speak with her and talk about our faith in Heavenly Father to help us through trails, and she asked us "How would you deal with someone who has a drug or addiction problem?" That was so crazy, my companions and I got to bear testimony again that through Christ we can overcome everything. We talked for quite a while actually, and we we prayed with her (I love that it isn't weird to pray in public here, becasue everyone is religious), and we were able to bring her, I think, a little bit more comfort.

Afterwards we had a lesson with Israel more about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, and it was SO great! working hard is such a blessing, even if the bugs come out at night to eat us a bit more. We worked hard on Friday and Saturday too and then on Sunday we had three of our investigators come to church! Which is awesome, because we weren't really here too much this week lol.

 

Also one last thing, Sister Johnson foudn this scripture that almost PERFECTLY describes Dexter (Alma 26:36):

"Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my lifeand my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redeemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, Who has been mindful of this people (of Dexter), who are a branch of the tree of Israel, nad has been lost from its body in a strange land (there was a Dexter branch/mini-ward here for awhile, but it was lost);  yea, I say blessed be the name of my God who has been mindful of us wanderers in a strange land."

 

I know with all of my heart that Heavenly Father is so mindful of His children, whether they are wandering in dusty New Mexico or walking around Temple Square in Salt Lake City (I figured that's probably the best metaphor of this tree trunk). But He truly knows His children, and he wants us to come to Him in prayer, to believe in His Son Jesus Christ, and to accept his Atonment into our lives, to help change, strengthen, and empower us! It is such a blessing to be able to know our Savior better every day, to talk to our Father in Heaven, and to feel His Holy Spirit testify that He is listening to us, no matter how strange a place we feel we are wandering.

 

All my love,

Sister Lagrosa

 

P.s. I do send a lot of bug pictures huh? And to answer Mom's question: I toatally have seen tarantuals! I accidentally picked up a dead one that was on the doorstep of a member's house! ...I thought it was fake. I got so scared after I realized how FUZZY it was that I kind of had a little bit of an asthma attack in their lawn later... and I have always carried my inhaler with me since that moment lol. But apparently there are tarantulas all over down here, but they can't hurt you at all, and don't really ever bite people. And if one of their legs breaks they die, so don't hurt tarantulas! They eat all the other nasty bugs... like flies, and mosquitos!

 

Pictures:

1-- The beautiful New Mexico flatness

2-- My future home (in Portallis)

3-- The least effective way to brush your teeth

4-- another AWESOME BUG! ...I don't know what it is yet... if someone finds out, let me know?

5-- Clouds this morning! It's 70 degrees!! :D